This invention pertains to wheels, specifically to wheel designs where the hub is an integral part of the wheel.
Historically wheel hub or rim designs utilized in some aircraft landing systems have used a grease lubricant for the hub which requires the user to first remove the entire wheel assembly from the aircraft and further disassemble the wheel itself, in some cases, in order to service the lubricant.
Prior art wheel assemblies using oil bath hub designs show that the lubricant port is located on the end of the axle or spindle and lubricants are serviced either by removing the hub in its entirety or by servicing ports located on the axial end of the hub itself. These service ports permit lubricant to be delivered through the hub, around or through the seals, and then around or through the spindle or axle.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,017,097 to Weir (2000) is a wheel hub assembly design which specifically addresses the need for a drivable wheel hub assembly, capable of supporting the driven wheels, independent of the drive axle as used in miniature automobile racing. This reference does not have a lubricant bath hub design, nor a wheel design with integral hub nor heat dissipating hub features.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,740,609 to Jurus (1998) addresses the manufacture of a one piece wheel by the use of spin forming.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,277,479 to Koyama et al (1994) relates to the manufacture of a resin wheel with an axle hub. This reference does not discuss heat dissipation nor lubrication in the seal and bearing cavity, nor ingress and egress ports for lubrication servicing on the wheel.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,447,072 to Johnson (2002) and U.S. Pat. No. 6,273,519 to Tsou (2001) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,505,525 to Denton (1996) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,303,800 Persson (1994) show oil-bath wheel hub designs but these hub designs do not have the oil servicing port integral to the wheel assembly. The prior art presented therein is typically an oil service plug-port combination mounted by means of fasteners or threading onto an axle end or spindle end and the lubricant is serviced through the oil bath hub independent of the function of the wheel. These prior art references discuss servicing the lubricant through the spindle or axle, not the hub retaining the tire.
As more fully discussed in the summary and the detailed description that follows, the invention herein utilizes an internal chamber within the wheel assembly as the oil bath hub and the means to maintain the oil is a fill-bleeder value plug on the hub wheel itself. The prior art does not utilize an integral function of the hub to define a radial space about the axle and provide a bath for the axle bearing set. The prior art lubrication systems are all independent of the wheel hub. Further, the prior art does not show the use of the wheel for heat transfer.